Hey, everyone! This isn't really my usual style, but it's kinda cute. Let me know what you think!

On the Corner of Eighth and Madison

4 yrs.

"Mummy, look! He has a shark!"

Chelsea ran toward the little boy with a shark in his hand, oblivious to the sign in his father's hand or the dirty and unkempt look of the boy.

"Oh, honey, no!" her mom cried, following her overeager daughter. The man beside the boy looked up, years of age, sun, and restlessness showing on his face.

"Why? Just cuz he's homeless?"

Young Mrs. Anderson was stunned.

"Well, I only meant...I'm sure..."

She threw up her hands and watched the children interact.

"I love sharks!" cried Chelsea.

"I - I do too," the boy stuttered.

From then on, Chelsea refused to walk home by any route but the one that took her through the corner of Eighth and Madison.

8 yrs

"Okay, class. I want you to tell us your name, your favorite color, and your best friend. Chelsea, why don't you start?"

"Okay! I'm Chelsea Leah Anderson, I love red, and my best friend is Jackson Speare."

"Speare? We don't have any Speares in this school. Where does Jackson live?"

"On the corner of Eighth and Madison."

"Oh, Chelsea, there aren't any houses there."

"So? He can't be my best friend just cuz he's homeless?"

13 yrs

"C'mon, Chels. Just once let me come with you. You owe me."

Chelsea sighed. She didn't need to introduce Alana to Jackson. Yet for some reason her friend persisted. So she took her friend past the corner of Eighth and Madison.

Afterwards, Alana leaned over and whispered, "You didn't say he was so hot! I don't understand how."

Chelsea licked her lips and responded, "Just cuz he's homeless, he can't be hot?"

It was true though. Longish brown blonde hair, hazel eyes...if asked to describe the perfect boy, even at age thirteen she would have described Jackson, down to the arc of his eyebrow.

15 yrs

Chelea was walking home, like any other day, when he just wasn't there. Nothing. No water bottles, no collapsable chair, not even the old wrappers. He was just...gone. She noticed his battered blue backpack with his cat Downy's head peeking out under a bush. She let out a gentle meow upon seeing Chelsea, who picked up the pack, cat and all. After checking inside, she slung the pack over her shoulders and looked around for any sign of her old friend.

For weeks, she refused to believe it. She would wait at the corner of Eighth and Madison for hours on the weekends, hoping he'd show. She had screaming matches with her mom, insisting he wouldn't leave her, while her mom told her he was homeless scum and that he'd never stay for a girl like her.

"So what Mom? He can't like a person, can't have a real life, just cuz he's homeless?!"

19 yrs

Chelsea sat by the roadside, holding a beaten cardboard sign. Her eyes were sad, her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her first day in this city wasn't bad. The roadside was full of thorny bushes, but she was comforted, knowing they would have blackberries in the summer. She shielded her eyes from the sun and sighed, sipping some water and double checking the lock on her beaten red backpack. She had long since lost Jackson's old pack after Downy had died.

Now that she was in Jackson's place, she couldn't help but imagine where he was, what he looked like. She imagined he jaw stronger, his body leaner. She knew he could be anywhere. She thought of all the places in America alone. He could be in Mexico or Canada. Maybe even South America.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice, deeper than the one that had greeted her for years on the corner of Eighth and Madison.

"Chelsea?"

She looked up. A tall, handsome young man stood before her. His printed tee and jeans were completed with a look of disbelief.

His companion elbowed him and whispered, "Jackson, that's weird. You can't just assume her name is Chelsea."

"I -"

"Jack, we're going to be late."

As the two men walked away, she heard Jackson say, "Just cuz she's homeless..."

"Chelsea! Chels, it is you, right?"

She looked up into his face. His lovely, friendly, compassionate, worried face. The same one she'd fallen in love with, all those years ago.

"Jackson?"

His face broke out in a brilliant smile.

"Chelsea. What - why are you here? I mean...why are you homeless?"

She smiled. "Well, I haven't suddenly gone bankrupt. My mom kicked me out, and I don't want to go back. But I can't afford a car or a house, and I'm out job searching. See?"

She gestured to her sign. He read it and took her hand, helping her up.

"Well, then, Chelsea, I have an apartment you'll have to share with my roommate, and I can get you a job. My goodness, I never thought I'd ever see you again!"

"Well, where'd you go? How did you get an apartment?"

He was suddenly sober. "I'm so sorry Chelsea. Dad didn't want me to see you anymore, said you weren't good for me, teaching me the way you did, so we moved here. And then I applied to the high school and then the community college, and I got a full scholarship both times. That's all thanks to you, Chels."

Chelsea smiled, remembering how she'd used to teach him her schoolwork after learning he couldn't get to school.

"Chelsea, I was more than happy to leave the corner, but leaving you...that was the hardest part. I've been waiting and hoping to see you again. I hated my dad for months, making me leave you. Chelsea, you want to know why? Why I can't date any of the girls at school? I loved you Chelsea. I still do. You can't possibly know - "

"Jackson. Jackson, I do know. When you left...that was the last straw. I wanted to run away so bad, but I couldn't leave you. After you left, I haunted that corner. I imagined running away to find you, but I hadn't the least idea how to do it. I...I loved you. I loved you so much it hurt, thinking I'd never see you again. And... I still love you."

He grinned, and ever so gently, caressed her cheeks, bringing his lips to hers. After so many years, they finally met in the kiss they had both waited for.

For him, it made up his mind that this, this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

For her, it was the fulfillment of her dreams, the pinnacle of her girlhood being lived out.

This kiss was only the beginning of a new chapter in a romance that, although perhaps less prestigious and not quite as tragically beautiful as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was sweeter and more precious to them than they ever could have imagined.

This was a moment forever sealed in their minds and relived one afternoon five years later, at a small but meaningful wedding at the corner of Eighth and Madison.

~THE END~

11/25/15 - minor edits. Just grammar. =D